


The Stars Will Guide You

by cherrylng



Category: Ayabie (Band), BVCCI HAYNES, Jrock, Nightmare (Band), Original Work, SID (Japan Band)
Genre: Angst, Band Fic, Boys Kissing, Character Development, Fanboys - Freeform, Fanservice, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Minor Injuries, Pre-Band, Will add more Jrock bands and characters later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-10 15:17:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20530154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrylng/pseuds/cherrylng
Summary: Orion is the brightest constellation in the night sky and has been used by sailors and navigators since ancient times to locate other stars around it and hence help people find their way around.For five men forming a band together at the start, the name Orion just sounded like a good band name to take. Much like those sailors and navigators, the five men of Orion would come to see that the name has more meaning than they've realised as when in times of need, the stars would always be guiding them.AKA How did Orion started





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Foreword: Hello! For some of you readers who have read my Queen fic or my other works before, you may have noticed about my OC Corvo and his bandmates of Orion in some stories. 
> 
> You may be wondering: Why do I now finally have a story about the Japanese rock band Orion?
> 
> Well, what inspired me to write this story down is that a couple of weeks ago, I found out that Ayabie, a Visual Kei band that I loved since I was 15 in 2009 were reunited this year and released an album in August. Seeing them reunited made me happy, and I can't help but revisit the past. I started listening to Visual Kei music again. It was like a trip down to memory lane for me, not only in remembering what got me into Visual Kei music but also what got me into being a fanfiction writer in the first place.
> 
> I was meaning to write a story of how Orion started for years, but I never got around to it for various reasons, chief among it is the thought that no one but a few friends would read it. Yet, here I am, within less than 2 weeks and I have written down 13k words for the story and posting the first chapter. Funny how the very first Visual Kei band that I encountered is what got me into finally writing a story for my own OCs. 
> 
> With encouragement from some friends, I decided to take the leap of faith and just post it, for I want them and any readers passing by to enjoy it.
> 
> Now, for some of you who have read my Queen fic, what you should know is that the Orion members of 2018 are not the same as they were more than a decade ago, and that is my intention. Everyone is different from what they were years, even decades ago. Along the way, they go through character development. In this story, I wanted to write what _led_ to their choice of changing themselves, for better or worse.
> 
> With that said, do enjoy and leave a comment!

**-August 2003-**  
  


“Link, why are we going to the airport today?” Till asks.   
  
When the drummer suggested that they should use the day off to go somewhere with his van and hang out, he and Yasushi took up his offer. They did not have any set destination in mind on their rare day off together, so going to Narita airport before noon is giving them a bit of confusion.  
  
“I’m picking up my friend. The van’s the only vehicle that can fit in the amount of luggage that he’s bringing back with him.”  
  
They were wondering what Link was going to use the van for today when they got in and noticed that it had appeared to have been cleaned out more thoroughly than usual inside and out.  
  
“You’re picking up your friend and we have to tag along with you?” Yasushi the bassist says. “You could’ve just said so and we wouldn’t have to join you today.”  
  
“I could have, but what else are you two going to do today besides the same old things that we do together on a day off?” Link retorted, referring to them usually spending their day off at home sleeping or playing video games. Or do session shows or attending live gigs to see their friends perform.  
  
Other than a few session gigs with other musicians that did not have much in the way of anything substantial or productive, they have been mostly working on part time jobs to save up money. They have not had a solid band line up for a few months now and for Till and Yasushi, the two eldest members, they are painfully aware that their time may be running out. You can only be in so many bands for years until you start to see the writing on the wall.  
  
“Besides, it doesn’t hurt to do something different once in a while.”  
  
All the guitarist and bassist can do is to concede that Link has a point. This is certainly something different to do to while away the time together.  
  
“Why isn’t your friend’s family going to pick him up?” Yasushi asks.  
  
“He hasn’t been back in Japan for years and I haven’t seen him for a long time. I already told his parents that I want to be the one to go pick him up and they said yes.”  
  
“I see,” Yasushi nods as he sits back and relax in the van.   
  
It was not as if they are going to bail out on it when they are nearly on the way to the airport. Despite the drummer being the youngest one among the trio, the van belongs to Link, so he has final say in certain situations and matters. If he wants to use it to pick up a friend from the airport with his own vehicle, so long as he pays for the gas himself, who are they to argue about it?  
  
Soon, they start to see the airport and the planes parked on the tarmac and Link drives the van straight to the parking lot.  
  
“We’ve made it in time,” Link sighs with relief after parking the van and entering the arrival hall with Till and Yasushi just behind him. “His flight is the one from London.”  
  
From the screens displaying the arrival flights and times, Till can see that the flight from London via British Airways had only just arrived, which means that it will not be a long wait for Link’s friend to pass through border control, pick up his luggage, and come out to meet Link.  
  
“Do you think I should’ve made a sign for him to find where we are?” Link asks, worried as he scans at the one way door as passengers exited from it.  
  
“Do you think he’ll need one to spot you?” Till remarked dryly. In Till’s opinion, it is somewhat ridiculous for the drummer to worry about his friend being unable to spot him, considering his formidable height and silver-dyed hair. Link would have been a beacon that is easy to spot.  
  
Link did not have to worry for long, as he seems to have spotted his friend when he looks over at the arrival hall and started waving his arms.  
  
“Hiro! Hiro! Over here!” he shouts.  
  
They spot a young man around their age quickly coming towards them. The first thing that the guitarist and bassist immediately noticed about the man is that he has a guitar bag hanging off his back. Although until the bag is open, they are not sure if he plays the bass or guitar. Or just an acoustic guitar.  
  
“Mamoru!” ‘Hiro’ shouts in enthusiasm, using Link’s real name, quickly pulling the trolley to a stop in front of them and put the guitar bag onto the trolley before jumping right into Link’s arm.   
  
“Oh my god! I’ve missed you so much!” he exclaimed with joy, wrapping his arms and legs around Link’s body which the drummer reciprocated it back by properly hugging him back.  
  
Till and Yasushi watched the scene with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. It is an unusual sight to see two men publicly displaying affection for one another, especially as they know Link is not one for it.  
  
“Did Link ever told us that he has a boyfriend?” Yasushi whispered to Till.  
  
“No. But I can’t tell if they’re really dating or not,” Till whispered back.   
  
They could be close friends who do not mind being this openly affectionate to one another. Then again, Till had never seen Link being this open and affectionate to anyone before. It is a bit of a toss up, really.  
  
“I’ve missed you too, Hiro,” Link greets ‘Hiro’ back with a smile and a laugh before putting the other man down. Now that ‘Hiro’ is standing properly, they can see that he is a fairly tall man but still shorter than the three of them.  
  
“Guys, this is Hiroaki,” Link starts the introduction. “Hiroaki, this is Till and Yasushi. They’re my bandmates.”  
  
“Pleasure to meet you two,” Hiroaki greets them. He pulls his hand out before he hesitates and pulls it back slightly. “Oh, sorry. I’m used to handshakes,” he says with an apologetic tone.  
  
“It’s alright. It’s nice to meet you too, Hiroaki,” Yasushi assured him. For courtesy’s sake, both Till and Yasushi shook his hand in return. The first thing that Till noticed about Hiroaki’s physical features are his eyes. One is brown, but the other one is green.  
  
“So, why are you two here with my friend Mamoru here?” Hiroaki asks as he starts to push the luggage trolley and join them towards the van.  
  
“We were with Link when he said he’s going to pick a friend up at the airport today and we decided to tag along,” Till lied. It was partially true, only that what is not mentioned is that neither he nor Yasushi knew that they are going to come with Link to the airport until they are halfway there.  
  
As the guest of honour, they let Hiroaki sit in the front passenger seat so that he can be right next to Link. Once they got the luggage into the van and got themselves settled, Link rifles through the CD collection that he has stored in the van’s glove box to listen to and pulls out one for Hiroaki to see.  
  
“You don’t mind me picking this one?” Link asks, showing the CD case to Hiroaki.  
  
“I’m alright with it.”  
  
“You sure?” Link asks once more, hesitant.  
  
“I’m sure,” Hiro assured him with a grin. “It’s not like I hate it.”  
  
With that, Link puts the CD into the music player before he drives out of the airport parking lot.  
  
“So, Hiroaki,” Yasushi starts. “What did you study in England?”   
  
“Oh, I studied PPE as an undergraduate. It stands for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. I then majored in Politics for postgraduate.”  
  
“Cool,” Till nodded politely. He would have been interested in it, if he was interested in politics in the first place. Instead, he is more interested in what Hiroaki had brought back with him and his eyes keep falling back at the guitar bag right next to him. It has not gone unnoticed by the owner.  
  
“You wanna see my instrument?” Hiroaki smirked.  
  
“You don’t mind us looking?”  
  
“Go ahead, but be careful.”  
  
Till nods. As a musician, he will treat and handle other people’s musical instruments with care. When Till opens up the bag, he makes a noise of surprise which had gotten Yasushi’s curiosity and what he sees inside the bag surprises the bassist as well.  
  
Instead of an acoustic guitar, inside the bag is an electric guitar. And it is a beautiful one in deep blue. The brand name and series model is more than enough of an indication to show that it is an expensive model and there are worn parts and scratches on it, physical signs that it has been used a lot but taken good care of to still be here.   
  
“This is some serious equipment you got here. Did you play in a band while you were there or something?” Till asks, impressed.  
  
“Yes. My old band is Aurora,” Hiroaki answered with a bittersweet look on his face. “We played our last show almost a month ago. The music that you’re listening to right now is from Aurora’s first album.”   
  
Till looked up in surprise, as with Yasushi. Now that his ears are paying attention, the singer’s voice that he had heard from the music player sounded almost the same as Hiroaki’s voice. Link had played the album several times before, having said that he likes the band Aurora quite a lot. If Hiroaki is a musician like they are and that is his voice singing in the songs…   
  
“Link, what have you been _not_ telling us?” Till asks, eyes narrowed in suspicion as he has a hunch of where this is going. It is not a new thing for Till and Yasushi to find that Link is someone who keeps secrets and not tell them of what he is doing until it is finally happening. While it does lead to good things sometimes, it does not mean that they are happy with it. And right now, they are in such a situation once more.  
  
“Hiroaki goes by the stage name of Corvo,” Link confesses, finally caught in the act. “He was the singer and guitarist in Aurora for years while he was studying in Britain. They just broke up.”  
  
“And you want him to join us,” Till concluded. “Is this why you’ve been extremely picky about the singers that we’ve met?”  
  
It just seemed like a coincidence that Link has been unsatisfied about the vocalists that they have met lately while playing in session shows, rejecting them for reasons that ranged from justifiable to just plain pettiness even though he and Yasushi had thought that a couple of those vocalists were really good. Despite the arguments that they have had with Link about his stringent standards, the drummer is stubborn in his decisions, so those vocalists came and went. It was as though he wants the perfect vocalist for the band. Or rather, he has been biding his time by waiting for the perfect one to arrive back home and be picked up by them.  
  
“Wait, you’re still serious about it, Mamoru?” Hiroaki asks, his feelings towards what he had heard is a mix of amusement, skepticism, and doubt.  
  
“Yeah, I am,” Link confirmed. “We’ve made a promise all those years ago that we’ll form a band together, Hiro-kun. I never forgot it. We worked really well as a team whenever we’ve played together.”  
  
“I don’t know about it, Moru,” Hiroaki says with uncertainty, crossing his arms. “After the break up, I kind of want to take a break for a bit. Not that I’ll quit music, of course. Just need some time away from it, you know?”  
  
Till and Yasushi stay quiet at the back. From what Till can observe on Hiroaki’s face and posture, Hiroaki must have taken his band breaking up not well, which is understandable. Some musicians need to take time to recover before they are able to bounce back and play music again.  
  
“We don’t have to make a band so soon. I just want us to hang out and play some music,” Link says softly, still persuading. “But… if you’re serious about not wanting to do music for a while, can I have your stuff to use it for my band?”  
  
“Only if you can afford it, asshole.” Hiroaki gives Link a smack by the arm, but not too hard to affect his driving. The sadness and doubt that he had just moments ago is now replaced with exasperation and a small smile on his face. “My gear isn’t cheap.”  
  
“So you brought all your equipment back?” Link asked.  
  
“Yeah, but only the essentials are brought back with me as luggage. The rest of them have to be couriered. I hope it’ll arrive here safe and sound.”  
  
“Does that mean we can jam together soon?” Link inquired, sounding hopeful that they can have one. “We haven’t played together for a while.”  
  
“We really haven’t,” Hiroaki chuckled, shaking his head as he finds himself unable to persuade his best friend from giving up. “Let me get settled down for a bit and sort out my luggage before I meet you somewhere to jam out.”  
  
“I’ll find a date for it. Oh, you guys want to join us too?” Link asked Till and Yasushi, as if he had almost forgotten that they are in the van with them for more than a few times by now.  
  
“Sure,” Till answered. “Give us a time and we’ll do a session with you and your boyfriend,” he says with a straight face before cracking into a smirk.  
  
Hiroaki looks bemused while Link is in utter shock.  
  
“W-What? He’s not my boyfriend!” Link sputtered, only now realising what his and Hiroaki’s interaction at the airport looked like to Till and Yasushi.  
  
Hiroaki did not help matters when he starts to giggle.  
  
“I don’t know if I can believe you, Link. It sort of looked like you two are _very_ close together,” Yasushi says, snickering and jabbing his arm at Till who is now laughing.  
  
“We did look like it!” Hiroaki’s giggle gave way for laughter as well. “Back at the airport!” he wheezed.  
  
“Hiro-kun’s my childhood friend. He’s _not_ my boyfriend,” Link says with insistence, hands gripping on the wheel hard.  
  
“Yeah, Link’s just a friend to me,” Hiroaki backs Link up with confirmation after he stops laughing. “But I am bisexual,” he added with a wink aimed at them.  
  
Yasushi blinked at him, whilst Till quickly looks away, suddenly more interested at Hiroaki’s guitar.  
  
They have only met Hiroaki for less than an hour and already it feels like there is a lot of information dumped right in front of them, even as they are still digesting the previous ones.  
  
The rest of the journey towards Hiroaki’s house is spent chatting to each other, or for Till, watching Link and Hiroaki talking to each other.  
  
Watching how the two interact with each other, a part of Till wondered how someone like Link became friends with someone like Hiroaki in the first place. On the other hand, they are starting to understand the idiosyncrasies of the drummer that explains why he has someone like Hiroaki considered to be his best friend in the first place.  
  
Little do they know, until they looked back at it years in the future, is that this meeting is one of the first turning points of their lives for their musical careers.


	2. Chapter 2

**-September 2003-**  
  
Ni~ya enters the izakaya, his eyes scanning around until he found where Till is seated. The guitarist greeted the bassist of Nightmare with a nod and pulled his bag off the counter seat next to him for Ni~ya to sit on. He orders a glass of draft beer from the server before he turns to Till.  
  
“Not at work today?” Ni~ya asks.  
  
“My bartending shift doesn’t start until tomorrow afternoon.”  
  
Ni~ya nodded, lighting up a cigarette before he speaks.   
  
“So, I’ve heard through the grapevine that you might have a new band in the making,” the bassist remarked.  
  
“If you’d asked Link that, he’ll say yes,” Till says with a huff. A server arrives and puts a plate of karaage on their table.  
  
“And you?”  
  
“I’m not sure yet,” Till gives a shrug, picking up a piece of karaage with a pair of chopsticks and popping the piping hot deep fried chicken into his mouth and started chewing. Around the same time, Ni~ya’s draft beer arrives and the bassist thanked the server.  
  
“I did hear some talk about it from Ruka when he went out for drinks with Link last night that you guys have a vocalist now,” the bassist said casually, taking a piece of chicken to eat as well.  
  
“We’re not a band yet, Ni~ya-kun,” Till rolls his eyes, swallowing his food. “We’re just playing around for now. We don’t have a band name or even a show lined up yet.”  
  
“Oh, come on, Till! I’m not blind here!” Ni~ya exclaimed, exasperated. “You’re a guitarist, you got your bassist, you got your drummer, and now you have a singer! It’s all lined up! Doesn’t that sound like the makings of a new band that you’re in? And all you’re missing here is a good band name!”  
  
“Maybe.”  
  
“So who is this new singer of yours? Is he cute? How did you guys found him?” Ni~ya asks, eager to know. Till sighed, knowing that it is futile to keep quiet as Ni~ya will keep badgering on at him until he gets his answers.  
  
“His name is Hiroaki and he goes by the stage name of Corvo. And no, he’s not cute.”  
  
“Corvo?” Ni~ya tries to get the pronunciation right, but it is unfamiliar to his tongue and he got some parts mispronounced. He thinks that he has heard that name before, but he cannot place his finger on when and where. “I’ve never heard someone with that stage name in Tokyo.”  
  
“We just picked him up from Narita airport a week ago,” Till answered. “He’s an old friend of Link’s who had just graduated from studying abroad. Apparently, he formed a band when he was in England. They did well enough to go to tour in Europe and even America and have a couple of albums made before breaking up, graduated, and came back here.”  
  
“Wait, he did all that while studying? Is he the same age as Link?” Ni~ya looks at Till with disbelief and awe. Till confirmed his answers with a nod. “And two albums? He must’ve been overseas for years.”  
  
“Apparently so. Told us that he got a Master’s Degree to boot.”  
  
Ni~ya cannot help but be impressed. He would love to find out more about this Corvo. Unfortunately, he is getting this information from Till, who is not exactly the type of guy who is open and willing to divulge the information that he has. And right now, he looks miffed.  
  
“So what’s wrong with Corvo?” Ni~ya asked.  
  
“What?” Till looks at him, surprised. “Nothing’s wrong with him.”  
  
“But you sound like you don’t like him, Till.”  
  
“He’s still new to me for now,” Till admitted with a sigh, taking a long gulp from his beer before continuing. “I don’t fully know about the guy yet to agree with Link’s opinion about him.”  
  
To that, Ni~ya understands. For all the vitriol and time spent hanging out together, Till is not the sort of guy who can easily befriend anyone. It took a lot of time and patience for Ni~ya in the past to gain the guitarist’s trust and subsequent friendship to be even able to casually sit down and have drinks with him right now.   
  
“So you guys are just doing jam sessions for now?”  
  
“Yeah. We’re just playing cover songs. Corvo’s pretty good at singing, I have to admit,” Till says with grudging acknowledgement.  
  
“Does he play anything else?”  
  
“I’ve seen that he’s good at playing the guitar and piano too.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
By the time they parted ways and left for home, Ni~ya had gotten some knowledge about Corvo after considerable effort to pry said knowledge out from Till, and it has gotten him more and more intrigued about the mysterious singer Corvo. It would be nice to see if they have a gig and he can go see how Corvo will perform with Till, Yasushi, and Link.  
  


* * *

  
  
Despite what Till had told him the other night, the guitarist sent an email to him a couple of days later informing him that they do have a show by next week.   
  
After checking the date and seeing that he is free that day, Ni~ya goes with a couple of his bandmates, Yomi and Ruka. Upon arrival, he spots a few friends and several other musicians in the bar. Word had spread around in their circle of friends and acquaintances about Link’s vocalist friend having come back from abroad and it got them curious enough to come check him out.  
  
There are not many people attending the show and Ni~ya can sort of see why. They do not have much in the way of being a solid band yet so they picked a temporary one by the name of Crux. The location of the gig is at a basement bar that has a small stage that just manages to fit the four men and their instruments on it rather than from more decent-sized livehouses, so this is more of a casual show, so to speak. How the people in this bar knew that a show would be played here is by word of mouth and distributed flyers. Or a few regulars who are risking themselves to stay here for a drink.  
  
Still, for their first show together they have managed to rack up the curiosity and attention coming from fans that have followed Link, Till, and Yasushi, and from fellow friends and acquaintances.  
  
The line up is new, despite that three out of four members are familiar with one another as Link, Till, and Yasushi are considered somewhat famous in the visual kei music scene, with the singer being the only nail sticking out of the wood. From what Ni~ya has heard and known, the only person who knows about the singer intimately is the drummer himself.  
  
Ni~ya sits next to Aki, a fellow bassist who had only just recently formed a band with Mao called SID. From where he is seated, the two bassists can see the stage quite clearly.  
  
Ni~ya observes the singer Corvo on stage, his first time getting to physically see the man himself. Other than tuning and checking his keyboard and guitar, he is mostly facing Link than at the audience, talking to the drummer. When he does turn to look at the audience for a brief moment, there is uncertainty and doubt painted on his face, a sight which is not uncommon for Ni~ya to see. After all, there are musicians who are shy and nervous until they get on stage. But here, there is no backstage for the singer to hide his nerves.  
  
Till taps the microphone to get the crowd’s attention.  
  
“Good evening, everyone. We’re called Crux for tonight,” Till starts. “If anyone isn’t familiar with us yet, I’m Till, I play the guitar. This is Yasushi on bass. And behind the drums is Link. This is our new singer, Corvo.”  
  
Several people clapped politely when Corvo turns to face the audience, including Ni~ya and Aki.  
  
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” Corvo greets the small crowd politely with a smile and a bow, still a bit shy. “I’m Corvo. I know I’m a new face, but we’ll make sure that you’ll have a great evening.”  
  
The humble display helped in ensuring that the audience will go soft on him. A smart move.  
  
With that, he signals the others to start.  
  
When they start playing, however, people who have not been paying attention started turning their faces towards the stage. And they witnessed it as Corvo starts to transform right in front of their very eyes. Gone was the shy guy who kept his back to the audience, and standing in front of them is a man of confidence with a manic grin as he starts to sing.  
  
The singer is a professional, without a doubt. He put his heart and soul out, and it shows in his voice and in his moves. Ni~ya can see that Corvo has been performing long enough to have the experience to know how to sing well and perform well on stage. He also shows that he is a multi-instrumentalist that bands would kill to have by switching between playing the guitar, keyboard, or just kept to vocals depending on what the next song is.  
  
From what Ni~ya can see in terms of the band’s dynamics, Corvo and Link easily mesh well together, showing that the singer and the drummer must have had time and experience working together before. On the other hand, Till and Yasushi show signs that they are not yet as intimately familiar with how Corvo moves on stage like Link does, but they are not against it. Otherwise, Corvo mixes in with his bandmates quite well.  
  
After the third song is done, Corvo takes a short break for some water and chat with the audience. Now he is much more confident and at ease with himself. The crowd are more receptive towards him. The other musicians in the small crowd have taken notes on Corvo.  
  
“Enjoying yourselves so far?” Corvo asked.  
  
The crowd cheered back in enthusiasm.  
  
“Good to see that you’re all in high spirits!” Corvo’s smile is radiant and Ni~ya can see that the singer is already earning new fans.  
  
“Those are some good warm up songs for me. Now, make sure that you’re all staying on your feet for I’m going _Stone! Cold! Crazy!_” he says the last three words in English with emphasis, a bedeviled grin and wild look on his face just as Link taps his drumsticks to start the next song.  
  
What Ni~ya and his fellow musicians and the audience saw next was nothing but magic. If the previous songs that they played were considered a warm up for Corvo, the next song revealed a glimpse of the depth of what he is truly capable of. No, it is what the _band_ is capable of.  
  
The Queen song that the band is covering is incredibly hard to sing due to the rapid pace the lyrics must be delivered, never mind the instruments. It is doable so long as there is enough time given to rehearse it and even then it is hard to master it.   
  
Yet here is Link, drumming like crazy and never missing a beat. Here is Yasushi, his hand shredding on the bass so quickly like this is the last of the instrument’s life in what it can give but his rhythm and timing never faltered in its speed. Here is Till, rocking out at it and looking almost like a proper rockstar as he never lagged behind the rhythm team.  
  
And here is Corvo, singing the song in such an effortless manner. Even if hypothetically he sang it with some lyrical mistakes here and there, Ni~ya would not have noticed it for the sheer energy and charisma that Corvo displayed on stage made the bassist feel as though he is watching this in an arena rather than a tiny stage in a dingy basement bar.  
  
By the time they have finished their six-song set, the band has gained new fans and a roaring applause.  
  
“Fucking hell, that was amazing,” Ni~ya says, still a bit starstruck and somewhat disappointed that the show duration is quite short.  
  
“I know a couple of those songs they’d just played,” Aki says. “And I think I know who the singer is,” he says, eyeing at Corvo.  
  
While the band starts to pack up their instruments, Ni~ya decides to go towards the stage. When he comes much closer to Corvo, he noticed that one of his eyes looked oddly brighter than the other. Naturally, he assumed that Corvo is wearing different coloured contact lenses. It must be a gimmick for how the singer wants to appear.  
  
“That was a great show you guys put up!” Ni~ya congratulated them, clasping Till’s hand.  
  
“Great? That was fucking amazing!” Yomi exclaimed, jumping onto Corvo with a hug, which surprised the singer that he almost did not catch Nightmare’s tiny singer.  
  
Once introductions are done, they went for the bar, making sure that the performers for the evening get free drinks, courtesy of Ni~ya and his fellow musicians. While Till and Yasushi went to another group of friends to talk to, Corvo and Link stick close together.  
  
“You’re an amazing singer on the stage, Corvo!” Yomi said over a pint of beer. “You really, really are!”  
  
“Thank you, Yomi-san,” Corvo said humbly, accepting a bottle of Guinness.  
  
“I’ve heard that you just came back from abroad and that you played in a band while overseas, Corvo. And I think I know who you are,” Aki says.  
  
“Who do you think I am?” Corvo looks at Aki, waiting for an answer with an amused look.  
  
“You’re Corvo of Aurora,” Aki says with certainty. “I’ve heard about you and your music. It’s amazing. I don’t know anyone else who calls himself by that name.”   
  
To that, Corvo gives a smile that looks tight. “You can call me Hiroaki. Aurora had broke up just recently. I don’t know if I want Corvo as my stage name to still stick around or not.”  
  
“Sorry about that. It must be a sensitive subject to you,” Aki sincerely apologised with a bow.  
  
“No, no. I don’t mind being called Corvo,” Corvo quickly forgives the bassist. “What happened with my old band is all in the past now. I’m still trying to get used to being free from a band and all that.”  
  
“It sounds like a good stage name to keep,” Ni~ya replied. “Never heard anyone with that stage name before.”  
  
“I’ll think about it,” Corvo said, taking a swig from his bottle of stout.  
  
“Link, you really played well tonight,” Ruka says to Link. “I haven’t seen you played with such a level of passion that you just did.”  
  
“I’ve seen it a lot,” Corvo says with bemusement. “Link did played the drums with me when I was in Aurora.”  
  
“He did?” Ruka turned towards the singer, curious.  
  
“Yeah, Link was visiting Britain back then when Aurora was on tour and was just an entourage with me when Jake, the drummer broke his wrist halfway through the tour. When it happened, Link said he’ll be the temporary support drummer, got Jake’s blessing, learned nearly all of the band’s songs, and played the drums for the rest of the tour.”  
  
Ni~ya has heard of the story of Link disappearing for a couple of months overseas. When Link claimed that he went to play drums for a friend’s band, they thought he was joking and assumed that he uses that as an excuse for something else. For some of them who did not believe him, they can now see that the giant quiet drummer has not been lying at all.  
  
After hearing the story, many of the band men are curious about Corvo and want to get to know him.  
  
“You were really amazing on stage back there, Corvo,” Ni~ya complimented the singer. “Are you sure that you just came back from abroad a couple of weeks ago?”  
  
“Yes. I didn’t expect that I would end up back on stage so soon until Link told me that we have a show lining up just two days ago,” Corvo says. He then turns to glare at the drummer. “And I told him I was _not_ ready for it.”  
  
Link, to his credit, does not look guilty or regretful for having done what he had done while drinking his beer. Ni~ya, Yomi, and Aki laughed at that. It was not an unfamiliar story to hear, especially those who literally have experienced it before.   
  
“Dude, you looked like you _were_ ready for that stage!” Yomi said. “You even prepared a pretty good combination for your coloured contacts!”  
  
“What? No! I’m actually wearing clear contact lenses!” Corvo says with a laugh, which gives the others who heard him to take a pause and turn towards the singer to take a better look at him. He points at his own brown and green eyes. “I’m born with heterochromatic eyes. These are my natural eye colours.”  
  
Before they crowd onto him to take a better look at his eyes, Link comes to Corvo’s side, effectively shielding him from those who wanted to ask more questions or potentially poach him to join their bands.  
  
“Everyone, thank you for coming to attend our show tonight and for the drinks,” Link says to the crowd of fellow musicians. “My best friend Hiroaki here started out his path to music in Britain and hasn’t been back for years until now. Please make sure he feels welcomed here with us. He only has me for now.”  
  
Ni~ya’s response, as with the rest of them that have come to attend this show, is mixed together into a chorus of ‘Yes!’ and cheering.  
  
Corvo does not say anything, but he does smile at them with gratitude.  
  
After all, Corvo is Link’s friend and a fellow musician and they want to make sure that he can feel as welcomed in the music community at his own country just as much as he had back in Britain.  
  
It took two more live shows before the band’s name is no longer Crux, but rather Orion from then on. In Ni~ya’s opinion, Orion is a better name for them than Crux anyways.


	3. Chapter 3

**-October 2003-**   
  


How Kenzo came to be introduced to Orion was when his friend and drinking buddy Hitsugi asked if he wanted to see a show at a livehouse before going out for drinks with the performing band. Seeing no harm in it and curious about this new band, he agreed. That was how he was introduced to Orion and how he met the singer with heterochromatic eyes who calls himself Corvo.  
  
When he saw them perform at Rokumeikan, the livehouse is impressively packed to the gills and they put out an amazing performance. The band have played long enough to have a few original songs in their set list by then, but the singer admitted to the audience that the original songs are still prototypes so for the time being they are supplementing it with cover songs for their gigs.   
  
Seeing the frank honesty displayed by the singer, the audience in the show did not mind one bit and are more than happy to see him sing and perform. It impressed Kenzo as well. For some reason, a lot of the cover songs that they play are in English. Not that anyone is complaining since the singer has shown to have no trouble singing in that language and he sings it very well.  
  
After the show, he and Hitsugi went to meet with the Orion band members to invite them out for drinks. And much like how Kenzo had met Hitsugi, he and Corvo immediately clicked and they talked a lot over drinks. They bonded in finding that they share several common interests such as their favourite artists and just the fact that they both find it easy to talk to one another. They exchanged numbers before parting ways for the night.  
  
He and Corvo became friends from then on.  
  
At any chance that he gets, Kenzo goes and attends their shows and then invites them out for drinks after. He knows a good band when he sees and listens to one. It also helps in that there are a lot of musicians that come to attend and watch Orion shows as well, thus making it easy for Kenzo to meet new people to mingle and gain new networks with.  
  
Watching their shows lately have gotten Kenzo feeling bittersweet, however. The members of Orion have incredibly talented people in it and from the looks of it, they are bonding well together and their original songs have huge potential to help them to make it big. A part of Kenzo longed to be able to find a band where he will not only fit in, but also further his goal to become an accomplished musician in his own right.  
  
After one such Orion show, where Corvo had unfortunately had to decline on drinking for the day due to prior commitments, Kenzo and Hitsugi went to a bar to chat where they chanced upon meeting a fellow Orion fan. Or rather, more specifically, a familiar face who is a Corvo fan.  
  
“Are you talking about Corvo? _The_ Corvo of Aurora?” one of their junior musicians who is hanging out with them, a guitarist going by the stage name of Haru, suddenly asks.  
  
“Yeah. I think I’ve heard of Aurora somewhere before,” Hitsugi says with a confused frown.  
  
“I did hear Corvo say that his previous band was in England or something,” Kenzo answered.  
  
“Aurora was formed in England!” Haru exclaimed. “And Corvo is the singer of Aurora! You actually met Corvo?! In Tokyo right now?!” he asked excitedly.  
  
“We just went to see a show that he was performing in his current band, Orion,” Kenzo confirmed.  
  
“How come you two didn’t invite me to go along?!” Haru whined, upset. “I’m a big fan of Aurora! I got their albums and posters! I know how to play all their songs on the guitar!”  
  
“I didn’t know you’re such a big fan of Corvo’s previous band,” Hitsugi remarked.  
  
“Is Corvo as cool as you’d thought?” Haru asked eagerly. “What was he like on stage?”  
  
“Why don’t you come with us to their shows next time and find out for yourself?” Kenzo asked sardonically.  
  
That had gotten Haru to shut up.  
  
“R-Really?” he uttered, blinking at them like an owl.  
  
“You can go see him in the flesh. But don’t be disappointed if he isn’t singing his old songs that day.”  
  
The next time an Orion show came up, he and Hitsugi met up with Haru by the station and had to drag him to the location of the show. Haru looked very nervous and when they were inside the livehouse, his eyes kept darting back and forth between the stage and the exit door, as if he was ready to bolt at any moment. Kenzo had to make sure that he stood in between Haru and the door to prevent an early escape. For someone who is eager to meet his idol, he is just as eager to escape before he even gets to see him perform right in front of him.  
  
He did not have to worry for long, as when the members of Orion appeared on stage and the show started, Haru’s feet became stuck to the floor.  
  
Haru seems mesmerised by the whole show. Several times Kenzo had noticed Haru’s hands oddly moving by itself before he realised that the young guitarist is mimicking the guitar moves that he is seeing on stage. By the time the show ended and they were proceeding to go backstage, however, Haru suddenly says that he has to leave and quickly bolts out of the livehouse before Kenzo and Hitsugi can even stop him.  
  
Kenzo did not keep track of what Haru did since then, but he had heard through the grapevine and on several occasions spotted him attending Orion’s shows. So far, the guitarist has yet to pick up the courage to go and speak to Corvo.  
  
Unlike Haru, however, Kenzo gets to be able to meet and talk to Corvo as a friend. In spending time with Corvo during their free time together, Kenzo gets to know of what Orion is doing and planning.  
  
Corvo knows and is capable of doing a lot of things, chief among it is songwriting. He has songs that were composed and recorded that never reached the recording studio for Aurora’s albums. He had money saved up from his previous band’s earnings, and pooling the money together with the rest of his bandmates, it was not long before he and the others started talking about going to a studio to do recordings to release their own songs as singles coming from Orion after seeing how well said songs were received by the audience.  
  
Just when they are starting their recording, disaster struck.  
  
When Kenzo goes to a family restaurant in Shinjuku to meet up with his friends, he can see Corvo and Link there waiting for him. Corvo is now sporting a plaster cast on his left arm and an annoyed look on his face.  
  
“It looks bad,” Kenzo says, whistling. “What happened?”  
  
“I was riding my bike when I tripped while dodging away from a speeding car and broke my arm.”  
  
“At least you’re still alive and not in a serious condition,” Link says with a sigh, as if he had been repeating those words several times for some time since the accident.  
  
“I’m still alive, true, but I dodged that car at the price of a broken arm. Right around the time that we’re recording the demos!” Corvo says. He looks to be more annoyed that he cannot play or record using his musical instruments than the fact that he got himself injured.  
  
“Corvo, just take a break,” Kenzo says. “You need that time to heal your arm.”  
  
“I’ll only take a break once I get my parts recorded in the studio,” Corvo declared. Then he glances at Link. “That means _both_ the vocals and the instruments.”  
  
“You still want to play your instruments?” Kenzo looks at Corvo, flabbergasted. Now he is starting to see what Link had been putting up with from his best friend.   
  
The other thing that surprises Kenzo is just how determined the singer is in wanting to get on with such a task. He has heard Corvo’s stories over pints of beer about how reluctant he was in forming a new band and performing in gigs that Link had set up and dragged him into performing at.   
  
Kenzo had thought that with a broken arm, this would have finally given Corvo a solid excuse for once to not do something band-related that he had been reluctant to do. Yet despite being forced into it, it seems that once he has gotten into it, Corvo latches onto it and refuses to let go until he has completed what was started. This might explain why Orion’s music and showmanship qualities are so good, and why Link is willing to put up with Corvo’s complaints.  
  
“My hands and fingers are still fine, so I can play the piano parts after a few days of healing if I’m careful,” Corvo answered, wiggling his fingers as a demonstration. He sighs. “I just don’t know what to do with the guitar recordings. Till might be able to cover for it, but it wouldn’t sound the same. Not that he isn’t good at playing the guitar, it’s just that we have different styles and we can both see that. There are moves and techniques that I developed whilst in Britain that will take time to learn and master it on short notice.”  
  
“Till’s more of a rhythm guitarist than lead,” Link says, simplifying what Corvo was saying to Kenzo. “He tried to play Corvo’s parts, but the sound doesn’t come out the way we wanted.”  
  
“How am I going to record my parts? We’re going to use the studio in a week’s time,” Corvo groans.  
  
“You can just book to use a studio at another time,” Kenzo suggested.  
  
Corvo shakes his head.  
  
“We can’t. We’ve already paid for the rent to use it and the studio that we picked has no refund once you’ve paid for it. The others can’t afford to pool in their money until their next paycheck comes up next month.”  
  
Kenzo taps his chin, understanding the frustrating problem that Corvo had landed himself in. He sympathised with Corvo here. A broken arm for a musician spells bad news, especially when it is nearing around the time to record music or while on tour.  
  
Then an idea came onto Kenzo’s mind.  
  
“I think I know someone who might help. He might know how to play to your style.”  
  
“You do?” Corvo looks at him in surprise. “Can you invite him over?” he asks in anticipation.   
  
Evidently, the singer has been more desperate than Kenzo had thought.  
  
It will be easy to convince the young guitarist to come over and meet him at their current location for Corvo and Link to make an assessment of his guitar skills. Haru gets to finally meet and talk to Corvo, and Corvo has someone who can help him in recording his tracks down.   
  
Then Kenzo remembers how Haru makes his escape every time they were about to go meet Corvo and the others backstage to go out for drinks. There is no doubt that the young guitarist would make a break for it and leave the restaurant as soon as he sees him with Corvo. Plus, there is another issue that pops up in his mind. Just because Haru is a fan of Aurora and learned to play all their songs does not mean that his skills might be judged good enough for Corvo and the rest of Orion just by his own words alone.  
  
“I’ve got a better idea.”  
  
Instead of bringing Haru to them, Kenzo brings Corvo and Link to Haru’s gig.  
  
Haru would not run away during a show even if he spotted his idol, and Corvo and Link can be given the chance to judge how good the guitarist is in his performance. It will kill two birds with one stone. It was a good thing that Kenzo remembers when Haru’s band is going to do a show, which is coincidentally today in the evening. Snagging some tickets to the show by the box office was done without much trouble.  
  
Since there is no VIP space in the small livehouse that they are in, they stayed at the back so that they would not get disturbed by the fans. After Kenzo points out which one is Haru when the band appeared on stage, Corvo watches the whole show attentively, his eyes and ears concentrated on how Haru performed. By the time the show has come to an end, Corvo turns to Kenzo.  
  
“He’ll do,” Corvo says with firm conviction and belief. “He’s good enough, don’t you think, Link?” he asks his childhood friend.  
  
“He is. But did you even notice the rest of the band?” Link asks.  
  
“Oh, I did. They were decent,” Corvo answered flippantly.  
  
Kenzo has heard of the English idiom ‘damning with faint praise’ before and its meaning and there is no doubt on what Corvo really feels about the band that Haru is in. It is a good thing that they are talking quietly enough to not have anyone nearby to hear his opinion.  
  
With the show over and the crowd of fans leaving, the three of them headed out to the back of the livehouse. It was some time before Kenzo spotted Haru coming out and he quickly went over to the guitarist.  
  
“Hey Haru, that was a good show today.”  
  
“Thanks, the fans are taking the new songs well…”  
  
Haru is at a loss of words when he sees who is standing behind Kenzo.  
  
“It was a great show! Your band did really well tonight!” Corvo says with a grin.  
  
Haru stares at them with wide eyes, still speechless.  
  
“Ah, where are my manners? I’m Corvo, and this is my friend, Link,” Corvo introduced himself and Link to the guitarist. They greeted Haru with a casual bow.  
  
“I’m Haru! T-Thank you!” Haru quickly scrambles to recover himself to greet back, his bow noticeably lower than Corvo and Link’s.  
  
“Thank you so much for coming!” Haru thanks them again, before the floodgates open and his thoughts and emotions spill out for them to see. “I thought I saw you two with Kenzo at the very back! And it really _is_ you! I’ve been to your shows! The Orion ones, that is, and they’re amazing! How long have the two of you been friends together?”  
  
“We’ve been friends since childhood,” Link answered.  
  
Corvo just appears amused by Haru’s reactions towards him and Link.  
  
“Wow,” Haru uttered in amazement. When he turns to Corvo, he blinks at first before his eyes notice the singer’s left arm.  
  
“Um, Corvo-san, I don’t know if it’s rude of me to ask this, but what happened to your arm?”  
  
“It’s a long story. Haru, as much as we want to answer your questions, we have a reason that we’ve come to see you,” Corvo says, changing the subject before they forget what they are really here for. “Link and I weren’t only just here with Kenzo to come see your show. We’re here because we have a proposition for you. I have something that I need someone of your skills to help with for our band.”  
  
For once, Haru did not bolt away. As he listened to what Corvo and Link were proposing to him, an offer to be a temporary studio musician for Orion’s mini-album, he looked like he was about to faint.  
  
“So, would you agree to it?” Corvo asked.  
  
“It’s an offer that I want to take up,” Haru answered, surprisingly coherent in his thoughts and words. “But I can’t leave my band,” he says, feeling bad at such a thought.  
  
“You don’t have to leave your band. We just want your help in the studio and you’ll be paid for it. After seeing your performance, I don’t think I can find anyone else to do it.”  
  
Seeing the starstruck look on Haru’s face, Kenzo is pretty sure that Haru would have even accepted to do it for free so long as he gets to spend time with the one person that he admired the most.  
  
Some time later, when Kenzo hears that Haru’s band disbanded and how he immediately joined Orion right after, it feels as if he was the fate that brought them together. He gives a silent prayer that the young guitarist will do well in Orion.


	4. Chapter 4

**-November 2003-**

  
Haru wakes up with a bright feeling within him. When he looks at his digital clock, however, that bright feeling is quickly replaced by panicked swearing as he quickly gets off from his futon and scamper to the bathroom to do a quick wash. There were a few times when he got so immersed in recording or practicing his guitar late at night that he did not notice the time before he goes to sleep and wake up late for his band’s rehearsals or his job at the convenience store as a result. This time he has woken up late for _his_ band’s scheduled rehearsal time in the afternoon.  
  
He stopped by the konbini store to buy an onigiri and a bottle of green tea to get some food into his stomach, knowing that despite the fact that he will be late, it is not worth skipping a meal and then subsequently forget to eat the whole day and get stomach pains and headaches as a result.   
  
The demos that he had recorded the night before for Orion safely inside his backpack as he will be going to meet the band on the evening. The only thing that relieved him is that he does not have a shift or any emergency calls from his part time job today.  
  
As he eats his meal quickly while sitting on the bench outside the konbini and making sure not to choke from it, Haru thinks back on that fateful day when he met Corvo.  
  
If someone had told Haru months ago when he joined his first band outside of Tottori that he will not only get to physically see the artist that he admired so much since his teenage years perform live in Tokyo but also be met by said artist who wanted his help in recording their first mini-album, the 18-year old guitarist would have fainted and thought that someone just described his dream.   
  
His father had once warned him about never meeting your heroes as they would not have deserved the pedestal given to them when you see them for who they really are. If his mom and dad and older twin brother have met Corvo in the flesh, he would have proven to be the exception.   
  
Haru is sad to see Corvo having a broken arm when he first met him. He would have loved to see how the former singer of Aurora does his demos or how he plays his guitar in the studio. But he is aware that were it not for the broken arm, Kenzo would never have brought Corvo and Link to come to his band’s show in the first place and be given the offer to help record Corvo’s guitar parts for Orion’s first mini-album. Getting taught by Corvo on guitar lessons and helping him compose music is a dream come true as it is  
  
Learning how to play under Corvo’s style properly is harder than Haru had thought. Copying from him using Aurora’s old songs is one thing, but learning the more complex techniques while helping to record the tracks for the new band that Corvo is in is another challenge altogether. But he is learning from it, and he is making good progress in not only absorbing what Corvo is teaching to him, but also in contributing to Orion’s recordings.  
  
When he spends his time around the Orion members at their apartments to practice, all of whom are experienced musicians of their own right in the music scene, the atmosphere feels much more professional than what Haru is used to and it has made him feel as though he should step up and take things more seriously. Yet at the same time, it is not a stifling environment for him at all. In fact, he enjoyed it. It felt as though he is contributing towards something great and amazing in spending time around the Orion members as he got to know them and their music in the making.  
  
His thoughts about the time he had spent with Corvo and his Orion bandmates are quickly pushed out of the way when he finishes his meal to continue his way and he finally arrives at the location where his band is meeting. The guitarist felt embarrassed when he enters and sees that, as expected, he is the last one to come in.  
  
“Sorry, I’m late!” Haru apologises profusely, bowing down. When he lifts his head up, he noticed the tense atmosphere from his bandmates. “D-Did I miss something here?”  
  
“You don’t have to worry, Haru, we’ve just finished the meeting,” the vocalist answered.  
  
“Oh.” Haru had missed out on band meetings before either due to his work schedule or miscellaneous situations that caused him to be unable to attend it in time. But this is the first time that he can sense that something is not right. “Can you tell me what was the meeting about?”  
  
When he asked that question, Haru can sense from his gut that he has a bad feeling about what he is going to be told about. He hopes that it is not to fire him from the band due to his tardiness.  
  
“We should break the band up.”  
  
Haru blinks.  
  
“What?” Haru looks at them in shock and disbelief. “We’re disbanding? Why? I thought we’re doing well. Our latest single sold well.”  
  
“That’s the problem,” the drummer is the one to explain. “We are only _just_ doing well. We’re not getting better for the last few months. Come on, Haru. Even you can tell that it’s not working.”  
  
“I thought we got potential,” Haru muttered. There was even a talent scout from a reputable label that sought them out on their last gig at Ikebukuro and was going to offer them to get signed, did they not?  
  
The bassist says nothing, while the drummer can only give a look of pity at Haru.  
  
“We all have potential, just not in this band,” the vocalist said. “This band of ours is just a stepping stone before we find better ones. This is how the music scene works, Haru. It’s just the way it is.”  
  
“Oh,” is all that Haru can say.  
  
While his bandmates are planning on the date of their last live show, Haru is silent as he goes on autopilot. It should have been expected. There are a lot of Visual Kei bands that do not last long in the industry which is considered a normal occurrence, and unfortunately, Haru is in such a band.   
  
He knows that he would have to move on to another band at some point, but this was sooner than he had expected. Once it is over, it is back to square one and he will have to go search for bands that want a guitarist. Preferably one that can last long.  
  
If Haru is honest with himself, he knows where he wishes to be in, but he has to be a realist. It is not as if Orion would take in one more member, especially a guitarist. All of the members are professionals in their respective positions in the band. Once Corvo’s arm is healed, he will be back in shape to play both the guitar and piano without trouble.  
  
This depressing mindset followed Haru the whole day after the band meeting is over and it is still there when he arrived at the studio that Orion is using later that evening to record their first mini-album.  
  
“Good evening, Haru,” Corvo is the first to greet him. When he takes a look at the younger guitarist, Haru’s body language seems to have sparked concern to the singer. “Hey, you alright there?” he asks.  
  
“I got a show to perform a couple of weeks from now,” Haru says, quickly putting up a reassuring smile. “Just a bit stressed about it, but it’s nothing to worry about. But until then, I’ll make sure to put down the tracks as needed!”  
  
Corvo looks at Haru with a questioning look, sensing that something had bothered him, but decides not to dig deeper and just nodded.   
  
“Glad you made it. We’re going to start recording as soon as Till and Yasushi arrive here.”  
  
Once Haru had put his stuff out of the way and pull out his guitar, he takes a survey of his surroundings. Till and Yasushi have yet to have arrived yet. Link is busy testing his drum kit out to check for any potential problems and quickly get it fixed before the actual recording will start. Corvo is sitting by the sofa, reading up on the papers filled with lyrics on them with a frown on his face.   
  
From observing his body language and from their earlier interaction, Haru can sense that Corvo is not irritated at him, which is fortunate, but he does not know what had upset the singer.  
  
“Um, Corvo-san, is something the matter with you?” Haru asks, picking up the courage to do so.  
  
“I’m fine,” Corvo replied, waving his hand dismissively. “Why are you asking?”   
  
“I just couldn’t help but notice that you’re unhappy. Is it the song lyrics that you were reading up on?”  
  
Corvo lets out a sigh, putting the papers down.  
  
“Truth be told, despite my expectations, my arm hasn’t healed enough for me to play the piano yet, so we’ve had to replace some of the songs that were picked before for other songs that won’t require me to play the piano. We were going to inform you that, Haru, but this was a last minute decision. You’ve listened to some of those tracks before, so it shouldn’t be too hard on you to record them down while you’re here with us.”  
  
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Haru replied, feeling sorry for him. He knew that Corvo had been looking forward to it from the interactions that they have had. “I’ll do the best that I can with the recordings. I’m sure that there’s always a next time to record those songs, maybe put them into an album.”  
  
Corvo does not say anything else, but he does give a forced smile at Haru’s attempt to cheer him up.  
  
Once Till and Yasushi have finally arrived and they have all set up their instruments, they started talking about what to do. How the songs will be arranged on the setlist will come later once they are done with recording it and letting the sound engineer do the mixing.  
  
Haru must admit to himself that the band’s sudden but understandable decision to change some of the songs for the mini-album did throw him off the wagon, but he was able to recover quickly to work together with Corvo and Till to record the takes for it. Hours went by in the studio as they get the songs recorded down and do takes to find the most suitable one, and by the time they reached the last song on the list, Haru is relieved and happy at completing them all. He has done his best on recording the demos to their satisfaction.  
  
When Haru checks the time, finding it was hours well past midnight. All of them have been working hard over the course of the recording session, the cups of coffee and tea acting as a testament as to how long that they have stayed up. The train stations will not open until 5am and the taxi will charge an exorbitant fee at this hour to get him home, so Haru decides to stay in the studio with the band to hang out with them and to make sure that he is on hand to help out on any situation that comes up that requires his assistance.  
  
Despite being young for his age compared to the rest of the band, Haru has done his study as a self-taught musician and is impressed that Orion have managed to find a studio that allows them to record this late in the night. Unless an artist is backed by a major label company, it is not that easy for an indie band such as Orion to find a decent studio that can open for nearly 24/7 with a good sound engineer provided as well.  
  
Soon, Corvo enters the recording room to do the vocal parts on a few of the songs left. He finished most of them without too much trouble. However, the singer seems apprehensive about some of the songs for some reason. Haru wonders why at first since Corvo was fine when he recorded his vocals earlier on before the guitarist remembered something important. These are the songs that had replaced the previous ones that had to be pulled out of the selection.  
  
When it came to the last song on the list, Corvo kept asking to do more takes on it and seems to have a growing frustration towards it.  
  
“Corvo-san, is everything alright?” the sound engineer asked through the mic after the umpteenth vocal take.  
  
“No,” is Corvo’s only answer through the microphone before he proceeds to step out of the studio and enters the recording room.  
  
“This song needs some changes in the lyrics,” he says.  
  
“What? Why?” Till is the one to ask.  
  
“The lyrics don’t feel good enough, in my opinion,” Corvo answered, not holding back on his honesty.  
  
“We’ve picked these songs to replace the old ones and you even agreed to it,” Till attempted to reason with Corvo. “And I agreed to you in changing some of the words and sentences of the lyrics.”  
  
“Your songs are good, Till, I just think that these lyrics can be sung in another language. Like English.”  
  
“Corvo,” Link tries to warn the singer, but it fell on deaf ears.  
  
“No, I refuse to change it to English! They’re perfectly good as it is!” the guitarist argues back, standing up from the sofa that he was sitting on to confront Corvo as if to challenge him. This is his song and he wrote a large majority of the lyrics, so Till does have a personal stake to it and very much offended by what Corvo wants to do with it.  
  
“And I don’t think so,” Corvo retorts, taking a step closer and not backing down. If anything, he looks as if he is ready and itching for a fight. And so does Till by the looks of it.  
  
Although Haru stays quiet by the sidelines, not sure of what to do in response at this sudden escalation of events, he cannot help but wonder why Corvo does not want to do this particular song in the way that it should be. As far as he had noticed, Till’s songs are also good and complements well with Corvo’s vocals.  
  
Curiosity and a desire of not wanting to see a fight turn physical got the better of Haru as he speaks up.  
  
“Um, excuse me, Corvo-san.”  
  
“What?!” Corvo exclaimed a little too harshly before he realised who is it that interrupted the quarrel. “Oh, sorry about that. What is it, Haru?” he says with a more polite voice.  
  
“Why do you not want to sing in Japanese?” Haru cannot help but ask.  
  
Hearing that, Corvo blinked and took a pause. Till takes a pause as well. Seeing him being silent and worried that he may have upset the singer, Haru quickly adds in an explanation.  
  
“I mean, there’s nothing wrong with the lyrics when I listened to you sing it. It’s just… why don’t you want to sing it that way? You sing it quite well on a couple of songs for the mini-album that requires you to sing in Japanese.”   
  
Corvo continues to be silent, which causes the others to turn their attention on him. Link in particular looked quite worried over the singer.  
  
“I’ve been singing and writing songs mainly in English for a few years,” Corvo finally admitted, breaking the silence. “I’m not sure if I can sing as well as I do in Japanese. Truth be told, I haven’t been in a good mood lately, which made me unsure about singing these songs.”  
  
As much as he thought that Corvo is an amazing and talented artist, and Haru still does believe that he is, seeing him like this is but a reminder to Haru that the artist that he looked up to so much is just as much of a regular human being like he is. A regular human being with his own set of fears and insecurities.  
  
And right now, Haru finds that he has to speak up to let Corvo know that what he has said of himself is not true.  
  
“You sing really well in it, Corvo-san. I remember a few weeks ago when I first saw you sing BUCK-TICK’s ‘Dress.’ It was really amazing how well you covered that song.”  
  
Corvo gives an amused snort.   
  
“I can sing well in whatever language so long as I put some heart and effort into it.”  
  
“And that’s why I don’t want you to switch to another language to sing this, Corvo,” Till says, taking advantage of the moment to add in his opinion. He puts his hands on the singer’s shoulders to look at him eye to eye. “Right now, we need to be able to convey the message of the lyrics to the people on a more accessible method. And that’s in our native tongue.  
  
“I will write songs that will go well with you singing in English later on as we draw in more people to listen to our music. I promise you that.”   
  
Corvo goes silent once more, mulling over what was told to him. He turns to look at Haru.  
  
“Haru-kun, when you were watching our shows in the audience, what were their reaction towards me singing in Japanese?” he asked.  
  
Four pairs of eyes are on Haru as he keeps a hold on his guitar as though it is his shield and quickly trying to think back on his memories over watching Orion’s shows. There is a lot of pressure riding on him in answering such a loaded question.  
  
“They… they were mesmerised. I’ve heard your fans talked about it with amazement after the show is over. About the allure of it. I’ve heard that some of them come to the show just to catch you sing in Japanese and they go home very happy whenever you do.”  
  
Corvo looks at Till, then at Haru, and then his eyes glanced back at the lyric sheet on his hand before he sighed.  
  
“Well, you two have your points,” the singer conceded, giving a small grin. “And I did see the audience responded quite well when we covered that Pierrot song on the last show. I think it’ll be a good challenge for me to sing and write songs in our main language.  
  
“Still, I think that there’s a couple of lines that needs some work on.” Corvo turns to Till. “Till, since it’s your song, I need your input and approval of the changes that I want to make.”  
  
Till gives a small grin, appearing relieved.   
  
“I’m agreeable with that.”  
  
With that, the vocalist and guitarist retreated off to a table nearby to work on improving the song. The sound engineer gives Haru a thumbs up and a relieved smile. As Haru watches the band members go over their recording, although relieved that Corvo and Till are no longer fighting, the creeping feeling of sadness comes in once more and this time he tries to fight it back by thinking about positive thoughts.  
  
What happened to him this past month has been one of the best things that has happened to him since he left high school and came to Tokyo to pursue his dream of doing music. He is happy to finally meet the artist that he had long admired ever since he discovered Aurora by chance on the Internet as a teenager. He is happy to be able to spend time to learn from Corvo about his guitar techniques and music composition that Haru is sure that will come in handy for the next band that seeks him out.  
  
All this enforced positivity just cannot get rid of how a part of him wished that he can be more than just a temporary support guitarist for the band that his idol/mentor is in.  
  
For now, all he can do is to grin and bear through it.  
  


* * *

  
  
When Haru finds a secluded spot outside of the small livehouse, he uses that opportunity to pull out a cigarette and lights it up for a quick smoke to calm his nerves.  
  
He knows that the fans coming today for the one-man live are here to see them off as a farewell. The announcement only came up days ago and he can already imagine how heartbroken the fans are to hear the news. If this is his last live until the next band that he can find to join in, he might as well put in his heart and energy out to give them a show worth remembering. And hopefully there are some other musicians in the crowd who would seek him out to join or form a new band with him in it.  
  
Soon, his bandmates are calling for him, as the show is starting soon. He stubs out his cigarette, goes inside to put on his guitar. With a few deep breaths as the intro music plays, he steps out onto the stage.  
  
Haru does his best to pour his heart out for the duration of the show, performing as though there is no tomorrow to remind him of the reality that he has been living in for so long. But time does pass and reality does make its return and before he knew it, the live came to its end, and he can hear the fans cheering and crying as Haru takes a bow and leaves the stage.  
  
He had expended all his energy into making sure that he made no mistakes while playing his guitar and gave a damn good performance. With the show over, Haru takes off his makeup stage clothes and puts on his civilian clothes before he steps out of the livehouse with his guitar and equipment in hand to return to the outside world.  
  
And standing outside at the back of the livehouse are four men that Haru has come to know for the last few weeks.  
  
“That was a good show there, Haru,” Link says to greet the guitarist.  
  
“You’ve played well and shown yourself in a good light on the stage,” Corvo complimented him.  
  
“What are you guys doing here?” Haru asked, still feeling the shock of seeing them standing there having waited for him.  
  
“Why, to see your band perform!” Corvo exclaimed.  
  
“Which you didn’t tell us is breaking up,” Till adds in, arms crossed like a disapproving older brother.  
  
“I didn’t want you guys to worry about me,” Haru grimaced. “It was already planned and discussed with my bandmates… well, former bandmates.”  
  
“When?” Till asked.  
  
“On the day I was going to record in the studio with you guys,” Haru answered. “We’ve had a meeting that day.”  
  
“Shit,” Link swore. “And you didn’t even tell us?”  
  
“Like I said, I didn’t want you guys to worry about me. It’s just the way things go in the music scene,” Haru said with a shrug, trying to appear not affected by what his now former bandmates have said to him.  
  
“All of us here have been through that before,” Corvo said sympathetically with a sad smile. “We know how painful it can feel when it has to happen, whether or not you wanted to. Or be ready for it.”  
  
“Speaking of which, we weren’t just here to watch your band’s last show together,” Yasushi says, bringing them to the actual reason that they are here waiting for Hary. “The four of us have been talking…”   
  
“And we want you to be in our band,” Link finished.  
  
Haru stands there, mouth agape as he tries to process what he had just heard.  
  
“What? Really? Why?”  
  
Corvo is the one to explain. “Well, based on my years of experience performing in lives and from my recent accident, I’ve seen that it’ll be too much work for me to keep switching between the guitar and piano while singing. It’ll help to have another guitarist in the band to play full time. One that knows how to play in my style yet still have their own style to it. That’s you, Haru.”  
  
“You won’t play the guitar anymore?” Haru asked, saddened at such a thought.  
  
“I’m not saying I’m stopping it. I’ll still play it occasionally like in the recording studio. In an emergency or if I really want to, I can still take up the guitar to play on stage.”  
  
As much as Haru wants to say yes immediately to the offer, he cannot help but take a step back and feel skeptical about the explanation behind their reason in wanting him to join Orion.  
  
“It’s not just because of that that you want me to be in Orion, is it?” Haru asks. “So… why me of all people?”  
  
The four members of Orion looked at each other, before the bassist chose to be the one to answer that question.  
  
“It was how you acted when you were in the recording studio with us,” Yasushi is the one to speak. “It wasn’t just your input and contribution as a guitarist, it was how you kept your head together and solved a situation to bring about peace. If it weren’t for you, Corvo and Till would’ve come to physical blows over the song lyric issue.”  
  
“You and Link could’ve done that in my place,” Haru pointed out. It was not as if he was the only one who could have intervened.  
  
“In a situation like that, we couldn’t,” Link admitted with a shake of his head. “If I did intervene, I would’ve naturally sided with Corvo while Yasushi would side with Till that day due to my long friendship with Corvo and vice versa for Till and Yasushi. You’re the one who got them to stop fighting even though you could’ve chosen not to.”  
  
Haru understood what Link meant when he said that. It is not hard to imagine being in their does that when something like a fight happens between friends, he would have naturally sided with the one that he has known and trusted the longest.  
  
“Truthfully, we’ve had discussions about wanting another guitarist to join the band for some time now. Even before I broke my arm,” Corvo admitted. “We’ve only just come to an agreement that you’re the one that we want.”  
  
“So, what do you say? Want to join our band?” Link asked.  
  
After hearing what they have said, Haru knows what his definite answer is to such an offer.  
  
“Yes!” Haru finally says without hesitation and a big smile on his face. All the doubts that he had held within himself has now crumbled to the ground and his dream has now turned into reality.  
  
“Welcome to Orion, Haru,” Corvo says with a warm smile, placing his uninjured hand on the guitarist’s shoulder. “It might sound a bit cruel coming from us, but it’s a good thing that your band broke up.”  
  
“Why so?”  
  
“We were talking about kidnapping you from your band before we’ve changed our minds after hearing about your band breaking up.”  
  
Haru does not know what to say to that in response, with only a smile frozen to his face as they lead him away from the livehouse.  
  
“Come on, let’s go out and celebrate!” Till announced.  
  
Hearing that, they let out a cheer.  
  
“Wait,” Corvo says suddenly, causing the rest of them to stop as he remembers something important. He turns to Haru. “You’re not twenty yet, are you Haru?” he inquired.  
  
Haru shakes his head, looking sheepish.  
  
“I’m eighteen.”  
  
“Ah, I see,” Corvo replied, sharing a look with his bandmates in awkward silence. So a celebration with alcohol is out of the question. “How about a celebration at a ramen place instead?” he suggested.  
  
Haru gives a bright smile. “I like tonkotsu ramen!”  
  
“Tonkotsu ramen it is!” Corvo declares out loud with his bandmates giving a loud cheer for the second time.  
  
Haru cannot help but be happy. It is a good way of celebrating not only the last live that Haru did with his now former bandmates, but also in being welcomed into Orion, the sort of band that he had long wished to be in.


	5. Chapter 5

**-December 2003-**  
  
Corvo lies down on his bed, eyes facing up at the dark ceiling. He had just come back after a show and was drinking with his friends.   
  
No, today is not his birthday. That was days ago and it was celebrated alongside Kenzo who shares the same birthday with him, and it consisted of a nice dinner out with friends before doing a bar crawl in Shinjuku. Their drunkard antics nearly resulted in them getting banned from one of the bars that they went to (which Corvo will say that his drinking group was not part of that brawl but they got kicked out nonetheless), but otherwise they have had one hell of a great night out.   
  
The most recent gig that Orion performed this evening was a taiban show. The taiban shows that Orion has attended to perform at since the band’s inception reminded Corvo of the ‘Battle of the Bands’ events that he went to when was in the UK with Aurora. While the key reasons to attend such shows is to gain new fans and hope to get the attention of talent seekers from reputable record labels, it also resulted in him meeting new people and helping to get him know more about the Visual Kei and Jrock music scene of the present day. Suffice to say, the Visual Kei music scene of the present time is an eye opener in how much it has changed and very different it is from the one that he knew of years ago before he left Japan to study abroad.  
  
Tonight is also one of their first lives with Haru as the band’s new lead guitarist and the fans that were there have taken to him quite well. There are also a number of them who do not feel that way, but Corvo is sure that after a while, their opinion will change as they come around to it. If not, well, that is their problem that they have to live with, not his. He and the rest of the band are very much happy to have Haru on board, thank you very much.  
  
Now lying down on his bed, all cleaned up and in his night clothes, Corvo finds himself unable to sleep despite being tired as he cannot help but think about how much his life had changed after graduating and returning to Japan. Yet, at the same time, it did not seem to have changed as much as he had thought.  
  
If someday in the future somebody asked Corvo on how Orion was honestly formed, he would admit that he never intended to form a new band in the first place, especially it being so soon after his old one broke up. His original plans were to get some rest and time to adjust his life being back in Tokyo, maybe help out on his dad and older sister on the family business while figuring out the new path ahead of his life.  
  
To put it simply, he wanted to take a break from music. He wanted to take a break from being Corvo, and just be Hiroaki until he can figure out where to go with his life.  
  
His plans to do all of that got derailed because somebody disagreed with it. And that somebody has been his best friend since childhood: Link.  
  
As for Corvo himself, he did not know why he agreed to be dragged into all this in the first place. It can be easy to pin the blame on his best friend, but the drummer was not the one to be in complete blame for it. He had complained and felt reluctant about jamming out, performing live shows and then enter a studio to do song recordings for a mini-album to be pressed and released for sale, sure, but it will be pointed out by others that he still went through with it all in the end rather than quit and just not do it.  
  
Despite his reluctance at first, Corvo finds himself recently taking up the reins a lot more and enjoying being back in a band. It is not too bad to start a band again, this time with his oldest friend in it.   
  
Sure, he had some unfinished songs that he felt could not fit into Aurora’s image but can fit in better with Orion, but for some time now he cannot pinpoint why he felt that those songs should fit into this new band he is in. Or why he is putting his time and energy onto Orion. Or why he decided that this new band that he had formed with Link and his friends should change from Crux to a more solid name of Orion, actually.  
  
The dynamics between the members of Aurora and the members of Orion are different to Corvo.  
  
Till is a good songwriter, playing into the heavier music genres. Despite his temper and the times that they have locked horns before over musical disputes, Corvo can see that Till is passionate about music and actually listens to some of his advice and suggestions in order to either improve or compromise in his work. And Corvo has done the same in return since Till also expends advice and suggestions that are reasonable as well.  
  
From earlier on since he first saw Haru on the stage, Corvo can tell that Haru is not just a good guitarist, he is a talented musician but whose skills and abilities needed to be honed. He is going to do his best to mentor the young guitarist and show him a lot more artists as reference for Haru to learn and be inspired from. Hopefully, from there, Haru can pick up more confidence and improve on his song composition which will encourage him to show his compositions for the band to listen to.  
  
Yasushi felt like a steady, solid man, and that applies onto his bass playing as well. He is also good at bookkeeping, and after spending time with him and seeing how strict the bassist is in guarding the band’s finances and would not back down if he finds anyone attempt to undercut them, he is the sort of person that Corvo can trust on a level that outsiders would not understand.  
  
Corvo knows how Link plays. Both of them are musically inclined, and the drummer has been teaching himself on how to be a producer for some time now. When Corvo has his guitar and Link is on his drum set, it always felt as though they are in sync with one another. They know how to coax out the best from each other. It has been like that for as long as Corvo can remember, before music even took over their lives in their teenage years.  
  
All in all, when he looks at it Orion is a good band with plenty of potential.  
  
So what makes it different from Aurora? He knows it is different for a reason for some time now, but he has never figured out why yet.  
  
Despite the chaos that can be seen on the surface, what Corvo felt towards Orion, this new band that he is in with his old childhood friend, is different from Aurora. He has been wondering why he went along with it rather than putting his foot down and saying no to it, but now he knows the reason behind it.   
  
When realisation came to the forefront of his mind, his mind feels more awake than sleepy.  
  
He felt it before once upon a time, but now he can feel it much more prominently.  
  
It was passion.   
  
It was, more than anything, something that he now realised was what he had been missing within himself for some time ever since Aurora broke up. No, it had been missing even before Aurora played their last show. Before they made that hard yet unanimous decision to break up.  
  
Where did it go and how it went missing, it is an answer that only few are in the know about it, including himself. He is not ready to tell anyone about it yet. It is still fresh in his mind and it hurts to think about it when he reminisces every once in awhile…  
  
But only now does he realise that the passion that he had thought he had lost has been coming back for some time now and why it has made him put a lot more effort than he had intended into this new band. And the one person responsible for doing so and put so much effort into doing this was Link.  
  
Corvo sits up from his bed and goes to his study desk. Looking down at the demo tapes and his notebook filled with his own lyrics scattered on the surface of the desk, Corvo smiles to himself before he sits down, opens his notebook, and picks up his pen to start writing a new lyric coming into his mind. At the same time, he is thinking about what he plans for Orion’s future and how to lead the band to that future.  
  
Not all is lost. He still has a chance to pursue his dreams and this time, with his old friend by his side, he will grasp it with both hands. While he still regrets that he could not give to Aurora the solid future that he had planned for, nonetheless he will give his passion to Orion. To the people that came together to form this new band.


	6. Chapter 6

**-January 2004-**

  
  
When Link arrives at where Corvo is living with his parents, he pulls out a set of house keys that Corvo’s family had given to him since he was a teenager and unlocked the front door. After getting out of his shoes, he enters the living room and finds Corvo sitting by the piano, tapping out a tune before he pauses to quickly scribble something down on a notebook.  
  
Link waits until Corvo finishes what he is doing before the latter turns his attention towards the drummer.  
  
“Hey, Moru,” Corvo greeted him.  
  
“Hey, Hiro. Got new ideas?” Link asked.  
  
“Yes,” Corvo answered with a nod. “I’ve been having some new ones in my head lately. Needed to get them written down as soon as I got it. Especially now that I’m free from that plaster cast.”  
  
It was only near the end of December that the cast on Corvo’s arm was taken off and the doctor declared his arm to be completely healed. The time that Corvo had spent with his arm bound in a cast had been one of annoyance and frustration as he had to wait and cannot do anything too strenuous while under the scrutiny of his parents and from Link. Which meant that he could not play his instruments, no matter how much he wanted to.  
  
Link chose to come pay Corvo a visit today because in an hour or so they will leave together to go meet their bandmates later. The second reason that he came here first is because he simply wants to. No underlying reason or whatsoever. To be able to visit and hang out with his oldest friend is something that he has not done for years ever since Corvo left to study overseas in Britain. It became something that he had missed doing, despite that one time he spent his summer holidays in Britain a few years ago.  
  
He is just about to sit down and let Corvo continue on playing the piano when the doorbell rang.  
  
“Can you go and answer the door for me?” Corvo asked.  
  
“Sure.”  
  
Link is surprised when he opens the door and finds Haru, Till, and Yasushi at the doorstep.  
  
“Hey Link, are you gonna let us in?” Yasushi greeted the drummer.  
  
“Sure,” Link said, still in shock.  
  
“I thought we were supposed to meet up with them in Shibuya,” Link grumbled to Corvo when he returned to the living room with their bandmates behind him.  
  
“Oh, I invited them to come here first if they wanted to,” Corvo replied, standing up and leaving the piano to be a good host as he now has guests to tend to.  
  
Haru, Till, and Yasushi each took a seat on the three-seater sofa in the living room. Being Corvo’s oldest friend and far more familiar with the house, Link takes over the comfortable armchair for himself.  
  
They were supposed to all meet up at a family restaurant down in Shibuya, originally, but with Corvo’s invitation they decided to come to Corvo’s house first. And the plan to go out became pretty much diminished when Corvo’s mom came by with cups of tea to serve them and told (or rather insisted) that they should stay for dinner and proceeded to go off to the grocery store to buy enough food to feed the family and the extra four guests in her household.  
  
Much to Corvo’s consternation -as he had wanted to eat dinner outside- they all accepted the offer. To the rest of them, they were more grateful. If it meant saving on money in public transportation and eating outside, they were not going to refuse it. Although they will have to figure out themselves on what to do later to while away their time.  
  
Before she left, Corvo’s mom pulled out several envelopes and insisted that the young men should accept it.  
  
And that leaked out the third reason behind why Link wanted to come to Corvo’s house in the first place and it is more related to monetary reasons. With his bandmates deciding to all come to Corvo’s house it has all but revealed his secret on how he managed to be better off during the first two months at the start of the year.  
  
“Man, if we didn’t come to your house, Corvo, I wouldn’t expect to receive a _pochibukuro*_ from your mom,” Yasushi noted once she had left the house. “I haven’t received one since I turned twenty a few years ago.”  
  
“I also get money in red packets during Chinese New Year.”  
  
They look at Corvo with wide eyes of amazement and of opportunity.  
  
_Damnit_, Link cursed inwardly. Corvo just blew the whistle and now there goes the second secret in how he gets his extra ‘pocket money’.  
  
“Do you know when it will be Chinese New Year?” Till asked. “I might come and pay a visit then. To find out how it is celebrated, of course,” he added quickly.  
  
“Don’t know. Haven’t bothered to check if it’s the end of this month or in February yet,” Corvo answered before giving a pointed look Till. “You don’t have to hide the fact that you’re coming for the free money handout.”  
  
“You’re the one who revealed it,” Till retorted. “Still, you’re really lucky to get free money twice in two months.”  
  
“My mom’s Malaysian Chinese, so her idea of when to stop giving it is when you’ve got yourself a woman to get married and have kids of your own to start that cycle yourself,” Corvo said with a roll of his eyes.  
  
“And here I thought that I was going to be the only one to receive envelope money from my parents!” Haru said.  
  
“Savour it. You’ve got one more year left before you’re declared too old to receive it from your parents.”  
  
“I can still get one from your mom,” Haru pointed out.  
  
“Don’t push it, Haru,” Corvo warned in a teasing manner.  
  
After the jokes and snark have eased them up, they move onto another casual topic. It usually works out that they have a casual talk before moving onto more important matters. They have planned out their first tour with a list of selected venues at major cities to promote and sell their first release. That way, not only would they increase their fan base outside of Tokyo, it would also not be long before they have enough song material and money to produce another set of songs to be recorded.  
  
Then after that was done, their conversation reverted back into a casual one. This time, it is about what their new year resolution will be.  
  
Haru’s new year resolution is pretty basic but has a youthful enthusiasm to it, in that he wants Orion to be the hottest band in the visual kei music scene.  
  
Link’s new year resolution is much more focused on his present time, which is to find a new apartment before his current tenancy ends and to keep his van and drum kit in good condition.  
  
Till and Yasushi are similar and a lot more down to earth but straightforward in what they look forward to. They want to record and release more songs and to hope that this year they will get to see their band be signed to a record label to have more access to a solid budget.  
  
“What are your plans for the year, Corvo?” Haru asked.  
  
“To get Orion to sign to a record label, perform on a bigger stage and possibly even in music festivals. And just as importantly, gain a foothold overseas,” is Corvo’s answer.  
  
Upon hearing Corvo’s resolution, he receives a long whistle in response, courtesy of Till.  
  
“That’s pretty ambitious to go that far,” Yasushi noted. “I know our fanbase is growing since we started as Crux, but we’re still playing in small livehouses. I doubt that it can be done within a year.”  
  
“It’s more of a long term plan I have in mind,” the singer admitted. “And I’m serious about it. We can perform in venues, then halls, and as we slowly build up, maybe arenas and stadiums.”  
  
Corvo then goes on to explain how such a long term plan can be done, what major record companies that they should entice to find their band as an appealing investment. As they listened on, they became silent as each of them tried to digest and process the information in the singer’s plans. The sheer grandeur of it. This is ambitious, very ambitious, yet from how Corvo describes the details and the research that it seems that he had done on it, also sounds realistic enough to be achievable down the line.  
  
To Link, however, he knows what is going on. Knowing Corvo longer than anyone else, he also knows the way Corvo thinks about matters. Without a doubt for Link, barring some exceptions, he knows that he will support this. As for the others, that is up to them.  
  
“The mini-album is ready to be for sale in a week and we have several songs that we perform at our shows that can be potentially recorded and released later. Do you already have some demos for us to use?” Yasushi inquired.  
  
Corvo nodded. “I got some new ones in my head, but I got a lot of old ones too. Wait here.”  
  
Corvo leaves the living room to go upstairs to his bedroom. A few minutes later, he comes back down with a cardboard box in his hands. There is a hefty weight to it when he puts it down on the coffee table.  
  
“This box here has my demo tapes that I brought back with me from Britain,” Corvo said, patting the box. “I got another box full of it in my room.”  
  
They leaned forward to the box and examined its contents. Being a tidy person, Corvo had packed a lot of tapes inside the box with meticulous records written on it such as the year it was recorded, the temporary names that he had given to each of them, and the time duration of each track. There were so many of them that they had to pull several of them out to get a better look at how many there are at the bottom half of the box.  
  
“This is a large catalogue,” is all that Haru can say with amazement, a sentiment that is shared by everyone else.  
  
“I got loads of demos that need some work on and I haven’t had the time to listen to all of them to rejog my memory, but I think that at least a quarter of them in this box alone will fit well for the band.”  
  
The four of them looked at Corvo, then at each other, then at Corvo once more.  
  
“What’s got you into this, Corvo?” Till asked, suspicious. “You’re usually dragging your feet about putting effort from the start until you end up having to do it.”  
  
Haru and Yasushi nodded in agreement as well.  
  
Since they first met him, Corvo had been a reluctant follower, but his thoughts and choices have given them a glimpse to show that he has a veritable knowledge in music and other subjects, and the capability of getting things done. Even before the band was formed, they have witnessed and experienced that it took some poking and prodding to get Corvo to stop complaining and get things done.  
  
However, Link has known Corvo a lot longer and has been the temporary drummer for Aurora before to have witnessed what his best friend is truly capable of. Corvo is not meant to follow someone, but meant to lead. And it was more than what their current bandmates have seen so far in the last few months, for Link knows what caused his best friend to be the way he has been since they first met him at the airport. However, that is private information that he is not going to reveal any time soon without his best friend’s explicit permission.  
  
“It’s a new year and I want a fresh start. You guys put up a lot with how I was last year and I want to change myself. I want to be better than I was before so I plan to put a lot more effort into our band,” Corvo says with a shrug and a small grin.  
  
They look at Corvo. While it is still odd to see him taking initiative, it is not an unwelcome change.  
  
“Since we’re staying over for dinner, we might as well check out your demos now,” Till said. “We can bring up our own demos later to see what we can work with.”  
  
“Come on, my boombox is in my bedroom. We’ll listen to my demos up there.”  
  
While they pack up the tapes back into the box to soon follow Corvo to his bedroom, Link cannot help but feel happy. At the bottom of his heart, Link is glad to see that his efforts to get Corvo to come out of his shell had paid off and he is being himself for the first time in nearly a year. He is glad to have his old friend back again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Pochibukuro - From Wikipedia: On New Year's Day, Japanese people have a custom known as otoshidama where adult relatives give money to children. It is handed out in small decorated envelopes called pochibukuro, similar to Shūgi-bukuro or Chinese hóngbāo and to the Scottish handsel.


	7. Chapter 7

**-February 2004-**   
  


“Mom, don’t assume that I don’t know why you come to see us whenever the band has a show.”  
  
“Whatever do you mean, Hiroaki?” his mother asked, looking surprised.  
  
Corvo fixed a knowing look at his mother. He is her son, so he is well aware that her demeanour has often fooled a lot of people into thinking that she is merely a harmless middle-aged housewife, the trap so well set that when she unleashes her fangs, it is too late for many to escape.  
  
When he first started doing gigs with Link after coming back to Japan, his parents had passing interest but otherwise did not bother him much about wanting to have something to do for his evenings so long as he does not get into trouble and finish the duties of his day job at the office in the family business.   
  
But lately, the band has increased their activities and are performing a lot more shows in the last couple of months and have also planned to travel out of Tokyo too to perform said shows. This meant less frequent appearances at the office, especially on days where there is a live show, and Corvo knows that they have been questioning what he is doing with his life.  
  
So imagine Corvo’s surprise to find his mom having started to come to see Orion’s show in January when none of them in the band have yet to have invited their families to attend their shows. Not only that, but she had brought along food with her to give to him and his bandmates to eat before the start of the show.   
  
Her reasoning for coming to their live shows is that since Corvo skips out on dinner at home to prepare for the shows, she decided to bring dinner to him and his bandmates. And his bandmates, seeing free homemade food being offered to them, did not hesitate to accept it.  
  
From then on, whenever they have a show in Tokyo, his mom would appear early enough to go backstage and bring food with her. Sometimes it is bought straight from the convenience store under her own expenses, other times it is homemade food.  
  
It has caused worry and concern for Corvo, for his bandmates did not know that the free food was part of the trap that she had set. Link knows that he is in the trap, but after long months spent on only eating bean sprouts and miso paste during leaner times, he no longer cared and went for the food. Judging by how much he ate and how Corvo’s mum had given him bigger portions lately, she might have felt sorry for her surrogate son and will give him some slack.  
  
On the surface, she looks to be an early supporter for the band. In reality, Corvo knows what his mom is actually doing.  
  
It was bad enough already of what she has been not so subtly hinting at him back at home and questioning what he wants to do with his life after graduating, besides music. Granted, he did prove to her that going into a career of music was viable when he was in Aurora, right up until the band broke up. It is getting to the point that he has been contemplating moving out of the family house. He has done some apartment hunting with Link and is waiting for the day when Link’s current tenancy is finished just so he has a measure of independence that staying at home with his parents does not have.  
  
However, it is one thing to have to deal with parents at home. It is another thing entirely when said parents come to Orion’s shows under their own volition.   
  
Corvo loves his parents, for they were supportive of his musical activities in Britain while studying there, but he also knows that how they show their love and support can be contradictory. They are contradictory in the sense that while they say that they support his and Link’s musical career path, at the same time Corvo has seen them dropping hints that they hoped that this is only temporary before taking on a financially secure, much more higher standing job career. Which, considering that he came back abroad with a master’s degree from a prestigious University, he can understand what they feel towards him in wanting to take the path of a musician instead.   
  
But this is his choice, damnit, and he does not want to be discouraged by it. He chose to soldier on this path, ready to face what may come and endure the pain and hardship.   
  
Still, it does not mean that he is happy about the predicament that his mother is putting him through and stays quiet about it for long.  
  
“You don’t have to bring food for us every time we have a show. We can supply it ourselves.”  
  
“Don’t listen to him, mom,” Yasushi butted in. “Your food is absolutely delicious.”  
  
“And we’re very grateful for this homemade meal that you’ve given to us,” Till added in.  
  
“Thanks for the food, obasan!” Haru chimed in, stuffing himself with pieces of tonkatsu and rice.  
  
“You’re most welcome, boys,” she answered in a grateful voice. But when she looks at Corvo, there is a smug look in her eyes.  
  
Corvo gives his bandmates a glare. Traitors.  
  
“It must be hard for you and your friends to play in a band,” she tutted. “You all look like you need some meat on your bones.”  
  
A part of himself wondered if Link had been through such a problem when he told his parents that he wants to be a musician. Corvo has known of Link’s family as long as Link had known his family too, so there is a probability that he did encounter this earlier on but managed to have it resolved with his parents.   
  
Corvo decides to switch over to speaking in Hakka. Other than himself, there are only two people in this room who can understand what he is about to say. He is well aware that speaking in a foreign language can bring unwanted attention onto him, but so long as nobody else will understand what he is talking about, it works as intended in keeping what he is going to say next only between himself, his mother, and Link.  
  
_“Mom, I love music,”_ Corvo sighed. _“Studying abroad was amazing and a blessing that gave me a chance to grow up and realise what I’ve wanted to do. _This_ is what I want to do, and ever since I’ve met these guys, I believe that we can make it. I understand why you and dad worry, but I’ll be fine.”_  
  
His mother does not say anything. Instead, she looks at him, contemplative but doubtful.  
  
_“I understand why you’ve been doing this lately and I do appreciate the food that you’ve given to us,”_ he continued. _“I’ve fulfilled my end of the bargain by studying hard and graduated with a Master’s degree. Now you have to uphold your end of the bargain and give me the time and freedom to do whatever I want.”_  
  
He did not want to disappoint them. But at the same time, he did not want to be shackled down by expectations that he has no interest or passion for to fulfil it.  
  
_“I must admit, I did have my doubts about you going down this route because of the people. And of what happened to you back in England,”_ his mother replied in Hakka as well. _“But now that I’ve met your friends and got to know of them and how I’ve seen you perform on stage, I don’t worry much anymore about whether you’ll be alright or not.”_  
  
_“But you’re still worried and that’s causing you and dad to interfere with my life lately.”_  
  
_“I worry as a mother. I can’t help it. And so does your father. Especially since we know how hard it was for you to get through your final year in Britain after what happened.”_ There is a sympathetic look on her face when she said that. _“But deep down, you’re strong._  
  
_“You know what you want to do and I know that you can make it and succeed. I’m going to talk with your father. We’ll back away to give you this time to do what you want. I know you will do well.”_  
  
Corvo gives a small smile and a nod.  
  
_“Thanks, mom.”_  
  
_“I’m still bringing food to you and your friends when I can. I wasn’t kidding about you all looking like skin and bones.”_  
  
To that, Corvo chuckled in response.  
  
_“Thank you for that. We really appreciate it.”_  
  
“Now, I’m going to leave soon to go out for dinner with your father,” she says, reverting back to Japanese. “Hiroaki, make sure that you take good care of Haru-kun here.”  
  
“What?” Haru looks at them in confusion upon hearing his name, in the middle of chewing a piece of tonkatsu cutlet with half of it sticking out from his mouth.  
  
“Don’t worry. I’ve been doing that for some time now,” Corvo assured her.  
  
“Don’t let him take drugs.”  
  
“I’ll keep an eye on it.”  
  
“Make sure he doesn’t smoke or drink. If he does, keep an eye on moderating and lowering his intake.”  
  
“Yes, mom.”  
  
“If he falls into a bad crowd—”  
  
“I know what to do,” Corvo answered back without hesitation.  
  
“Um, don’t I get to have a say in this?” Haru asked after swallowing his food.  
  
“No,” both Corvo and Corvo’s mom answered at the same time.  
  
“You boys keep an eye on Haru and treat him like he’s your younger brother, got it?” she said while looking at them with sharp eyes.  
  
“Yes, ma’am,” Link, Till, and Yasushi replied, feeling a tinge of fear.  
  
With that, Corvo’s mom smiles and waves them goodbye as she leaves.  
  
“You’re not going to be that strict on me, are you?” Haru asked after she left, wary.  
  
“Too late, Haru. You now have two moms in addition to several older brothers. So suck it up, lil bro,” Corvo pats his shoulder, much to the younger guitarist’s consternation.


	8. Chapter 8

**-March 2004-**  
  
Their self-produced mini-album that was distributed for sale since January had gone down well. In fact, not only have the first print has since been sold out, they are also earning enough money from various other band activities to afford to get more selected songs down to be ready for the recording studio as soon as they get back to Tokyo.  
  
Yasushi had even noted a couple of days ago that they should think about having reprints be issued due to how fast the mini-album had sold off and creating a demand for it. It got the others talking about it and agreeing on this idea until Corvo had countered that while it is a good idea, he was not sure if they should do a reprint so soon and besides, they already have their budget set and schedule planned on releasing a few more singles in the next few months.   
  
It was funny and ironic to think about it now that such a point had to be pointed out to the bassist, who is the band’s purser and a whiz at maths, but back then it was a headache for the rest of the band to try and deescalate the argument that ensued between the two. In the end, after some talking to, Corvo agreed with Yasushi’s proposal of issuing a second press of their mini-album whilst Yasushi had to concede with Corvo’s ‘wait and see’ approach, for at the end of the day, what keeps that idea from becoming a reality is that they do need money set aside to pay for reprints of the mini-album to be made.   
  
At the very least, having a second press will mean adding in some of the songs that did not make it in the first press due to Corvo’s broken arm back then, and that was partly what convinced the singer to go with the idea rather than be against it.  
  
It did not matter which way the wind blew for Till. With the way that they are going, the guitarist thinks that they can do a few EPs and singles as they build up their fanbase and their repertoire and get some major labels to be interested in signing them and increasing their distribution.  
  
Although Till had thought and dreamt of making it big in a band and worked for it before in the past few bands that he had been in, this is a first for him to actually experience a growing sense of hope that it can really happen. Hearing such good news has put him in a good mood which gave positive effects on how he performs on stage. They are currently on a short tour that only consists of doing live performances in Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, and ending it in Tokyo to promote the release of their first single.  
  
Speaking of performance, he has noticed the changes in how Corvo performs on stage.  
  
Ever since Haru joined the band, it has freed up Corvo from having to play lead guitar all the time while singing. While he still plays the piano, there are not many songs on their set list or a venue with enough space on the stage to place a synthesizer to allow him to sit down to play it. So instead, the singer had decided to take advantage of the freedom of movement given to him and see what he can do on stage in terms of performance.  
  
What he does on stage can be completely spontaneous, so it makes it unpredictable at times for what the singer will do next. From what Till and the others have witnessed, it has been a trial and error thing for Corvo to find out what works for him and what does not from one show to the next. So far, he is decent at doing MCs although his sense of humour and the way he delivers it are unfamiliar to the audience at first, but it does generate some laughter and amusement once the fans grew into it. Other times there were some acts that just fell flat, but which Corvo quickly recovered from that and learned from it.   
  
That said, Till had to hand it to Corvo, for the man is certainly quite the entertainer and knows how to do a sick power slide, with or without a guitar.   
  
The other thing that surprises Till is that Corvo is okay with performing fanservice and even takes an active part in it. Till had assumed that with Corvo’s background in the alternative rock music scene in Britain, that the singer does not have much in the way or interest for doing some affectionate and intimate acts to his bandmates.   
  
Then again, Till had never seen an Aurora show before, so he cannot really judge or know how affectionate Corvo is to his bandmates prior to their current band. Plus, he had seen that Corvo is fine with putting makeup on, wearing some elaborate stage clothes just like they do, and even adding some of his own fashion input into it for some time now, so Till is certain that the singer does not have anything against being in a visual kei band.  
  
What Till has noticed, however, is how Corvo does his fanservice to them, for how he acts around each individual band member is different. When he is close to Haru, he simply gives him hugs and maybe a chaste kiss on the cheek, but nothing beyond that. With Yasushi, Corvo leans more towards performing silly antics in front of the bassist in an attempt to get Yasushi to break his cool and laugh, which he had succeeded a few times and caused Yasushi to lose his rhythm. With Link, who is stuck seated behind his drum kit, it is mostly relegated down to visible affectionate smiles and talking to Link with some innuendo thrown in.  
  
It is with Till that the fanservice is more obviously risque. There have been several occasions where Corvo ends up kneeled down between his legs, looking up at him with a suggestive smirk. Other times he comes towards Till to give him a kiss on the cheek or lips if he is feeling a bit naughty and daring. And it is not as if Till had been passively receiving it, he had sometimes chosen to take the initiative by kissing Corvo or pat his butt as soon as he turned around.  
  
So far, it has not gone further than just some pretend flirting and the occasional bedroom eyes that they share on stage. Some would say that the fanservice is but a cheap trick to compensate for what they lack in showmanship or even their music, but it worked as intended and it pulled in the crowd. For the girls who came for the fanservice, they eventually stayed for the good music and growing fan community, so it worked out for the band. The live performance that they finished hours ago has proven that.   
  
Currently, the band is in Osaka and have managed to scrounge up just enough money for a few rooms at a budget hotel to stay for the night for themselves and a roadie who happens to be an acquaintance from one of Yasushi’s friends. Till and Corvo got lucky from rock-paper-scissors early on so they get to have one of the more decent rooms to share for the night.  
  
Till had expected that tonight would be a normal night. He had shared rooms with Corvo a couple of times before, so he did not expect for what would come next.  
  
“Hey Till, can I ask you some questions?” Corvo asked, having just returned from the communal bathroom, drying up his wet hair with a towel. “I want some input from your side.”  
  
“Sure,” Till agreed, although half of his attention is on his gameboy. “What is it?”  
  
Corvo sits down cross-legged on his futon before he finally asks his question.  
  
“Is it alright with you if I were to kiss you on stage while performing?”  
  
Till cursed when the character in the game lost its last life when he missed the cue.  
  
“Why are you asking that?” Till asked, deciding that it was better off to switch off his gameboy and put it away. It is a strange question for Corvo to ask, considering that they have done it a few times already.  
  
“I want to be sure that you’re fine with it,” is Corvo’s answer.  
  
“I am. It’s just fanservice.”   
  
“So are you fine with chaste kisses on the lips or by the cheeks instead?”  
  
“Both are fine with me.”  
  
“Are you okay with me taking the initiative or do you prefer to be the one to kiss me first?”  
  
“Again, either one is fine. Okay, my turn to ask a question. Why are you asking all of these questions, Corvo?” Till asked, unable to hold back on his curiosity. “I’ve said that I’m fine with doing fanservice with you.”  
  
Till had been in previous bands where the singer would use him as a prop to do some fanservice to get whatever attention to win some fans over to their side, especially during taiban events to make sure that they get more people who picked to come see their band over the others when they appear at the next taiban event. Usually, the singers do ask for Till’s consent to do so and the guitarist did not really think much about it because for him, it was just a performance and an act. There was nothing more to it.   
  
“I want to be sure, Till,” Corvo admitted, swaying his body back and forth. “I want to be really sure that you’re completely fine with it and get your word for it. I don’t want to cause any sudden uncomfortable situations for you if I were to do something that you don’t like.”  
  
It is an understandably considerate gesture from Corvo, yet Till finds himself surprised by said gesture. It has gotten Till to wonder if maybe Corvo can sense what he is. He has never said or done anything that makes that aspect of himself overtly obvious to many, but it is certain that Corvo has noticed it enough to come forward to ask him whether or not he wants to be kissed on stage.  
  
“I get the feeling that there’s more than just getting my consent out of this talk that we’re having,” Till cannot help but note.  
  
“So you wanna do a practice run of sorts with me then?” Corvo asked.  
  
“A practice of what?” Till asked, but he gets the feeling that he knows what it might be.  
  
“Do a proper kiss, I mean. I know that it’s pretty easy to do those kisses that we do on stage, but all those chaste kisses that we do will get stale to see at some point down the line unless we learn to do better.”  
  
“You want to do a proper kiss? As in right here? Right now?”  
  
“Well, there’s no better place to test it out,” the singer replied. “We got a room to ourselves and some free time right now to do it.”  
  
“You really want to be sure that I’m fine with getting kissed by you just in case you do it on stage with me?” Till asked.  
  
“Yes. I’d rather that we’re on the same footing with this,” Corvo said with earnest. “What do you think?”  
  
Till looks at him for a moment. The singer looks eager to do it and as much as Till has put his foot down on certain matters before with Corvo, it seems like this particular one is better to get it over with than to delay it.  
  
“It’s wild, but I’ve heard that Hitomi-san from Fatima does such a thing,” he said with a sigh. “I think there’s no doubt that the audience will go wild over it.”  
  
“We better find out ourselves, then.”  
  
When Corvo leaned forward to place his lips on Till’s, Till simply allowed it to take its course.  
  
When they kissed, there was no flirting or awkwardness involved. This has happened before, only this is a first proper, honest to god kiss between them. It was not one of those fleeting pecks to the lips that lasted for barely a second that they did on stage. It was warm and welcoming for Till. For all his doubts about this, he must admit that Corvo has experience kissing men when off stage and he is good at it.  
  
“How was it?” Corvo asked when they broke off the kiss. “You prefer kissing like this over a chaste peck?”  
  
“It’s… it’s good,” is all that Till is able to say, his eyes subconsciously staring at Corvo’s lips.   
  
“Good to know,” Corvo said before diving back in.   
  
One kiss turned into two, and the next thing he knew, Till finds himself having pushed Corvo down and being on top of him, their tongues touching in an open mouthed kiss. A part of Till’s mind is aware that they should stop by now and break away, but that is drowned out by a hunger and desire that he has not felt for some time now. And the soft moans that he elicits out from Corvo is nice to hear…  
  
“What the hell are you two doing?”   
  
Till is the first to react when he hears Link’s voice, quickly pulling away from Corvo. The sight of the drummer standing by the door, glowering down at him is a scenario that he never wanted to end up in, but it is happening right now and he has no idea what to do.  
  
“I was… we were…” All Till can feel right now is sheer panic and the fear that he is in trouble.  
  
“What were you two doing?” Link asked again without emotion behind his voice. To Till’s ears, it only made him sound more threatening.  
  
Till does not know what to say, feeling a lump stuck in his throat and blood draining from both his face and his groin. Before he could utter even a single word out, Corvo took the lead.  
  
“Practicing some fanservice here,” Corvo answered in a light-hearted manner. “Wanna practice making out with me, Link?” he asked cheekily.  
  
“I’ll pass,” Link replied, putting his hands up. “So you two are only _practicing_ here, Hiro?” he asked, making sure that the two of them cannot weasel themselves out of it unless they give him an answer.  
  
“Relax, Moru,” Corvo huffed. “We’re only testing the waters on what we’re comfortable with before putting what we learned to our live acts. My acts can’t just be down to just stand and sing or sit on the piano. So far I’ve found Till to be an excellent kisser.”  
  
As Corvo was giving his explanation, he managed to get out from underneath Till to sit up. Till finally moves and sits down as well, his brain still unable to find words to explain what they were doing, much less be able to do something to salvage the situation or his dignity.  
  
“You and your crazy ideas, Hiro,” Link sighed, putting a hand against the temple on his head.  
  
“Hey, just because it’s crazy doesn’t mean it can’t work. And since I’ve answered your question, what are you doing here?” the singer asked Link.  
  
“I’m just here to ask if I can borrow that manga that you promised to give to me. I saw you were halfway through it this morning.”  
  
“Oh, yeah. I’ve just finished reading it by noon. Should be in my bag.”  
  
Corvo goes over to his backpack and pulls out a slightly battered book to hand it over to the drummer. Once that is done, Link gives a nod and then leaves. Even after seeing Link leave their room right after, it still took some time for Till’s panic to have subsided enough for him to speak coherently. By that time, Corvo is settling into his futon and looks to be ready for bedtime.  
  
“Corvo, what were we doing?” is the first thing that the guitarist manages to say out loud.  
  
“It’s as I’ve told Link. We were practicing some fanservice.”  
  
“We… we were making out, Corvo.”  
  
“Yeah, it went down that route,” Corvo admitted, snickering. “But judging by how you are right now, I know I won’t be getting any tonight.”  
  
The fact that Corvo had hoped to go down to that direction is just as jarring, but right now Till is forcing himself to be more focused on what he is more worried about.  
  
“Corvo, he saw all that.”  
  
“Yeah, unfortunately, that was my fault. Considering that I’ve forgotten to lock the door, it was a given that anyone would’ve walked in on us at any time. Shame that it ruined what we were doing.”  
  
“No, you don’t get it. He _saw_ what we were doing!” Till stressed, hoping that the singer can understand what he is more concerned about.  
  
It seems that Corvo had gotten the message, and his response to it is by giving a huff.  
  
“Till, I get it, but you shouldn’t fret over it,” he replied. “If you’re worried if Moru-kun has a problem with that, then we wouldn’t be in a band together right now.”  
  
Till blinked.  
  
“What? What do you mean by that?”  
  
“What I mean is that if Link is homophobic, he wouldn’t be in a band with you, and he wouldn’t have stayed as friends with you in the first place if he were like that,” Corvo pointed out. “Hell, he would’ve left _me_ a lot earlier when I confessed to him that I swung both ways years ago. Have you ever considered that?”  
  
When Corvo pointed that out, it forced Till to actually think about it. What the singer said had a point, as he recalled the first day that he met Corvo and the man did not hesitate to tell him and Yasushi upfront that he is bisexual. As much as they teased Link by calling him Corvo’s boyfriend on several occasions, the drummer was annoyed but he never got angry over it.  
  
“How are you so sure of it?” Till asked. Even with the evidence presented in front of him, there is still that lingering feeling of uncertainty that creeps up to him.  
  
Corvo looks at him with an unwavering stare.  
  
“He’s my best friend. I know him just as much as he knows me.”  
  
And that seems to be a sufficient answer as it is.  
  
It is only when the guitarist thinks about it later on while lying in bed that he recalls that Link had questioned Corvo more on what he was doing to Till than what he was doing to Corvo. It still leaves him with mixed feelings about this revelation, but for now, all he can feel is that of relief as sleep slowly settles in and he gets pulled away from his thoughts to go to the land of dreams.  
  
In Till’s dream, he is playing his guitar in a huge arena hall, basking under the spotlight by the cheers from the audience. He finds Corvo draping himself over his shoulders, the singer giving him a wide grin before sharing a kiss with him.  
  
He will never admit it to anyone, but it was a pleasant dream. The huge arena part, that is.


End file.
